The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "trigger" ...
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NBC News: Under Fire
An investigation into an alleged defect involving 20 million rifles and shotguns, causing many to fire without the trigger being pulled. Despite dozens of injuries and at least seven deaths—and evidence the manufacturer has been aware of a problem for decades—Remington has publicly insisted its guns are safe and the incidents are a result of user error. Using internal company documents including customer complaints dating back to the 1950s, our investigation found Remington chose not to implement changes designed to make its products safer, and may have withheld vital information from its customers.
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Investigating the IRS
As the national deficit soared, WTHR exposed fraud, confusion and government mismanagement that resulted in illegal immigrants getting billions of dollars in improper tax credits and refunds from the Internal Revenue Service. WTHR gained unparalleled access to tax records and immigrant communities to show exactly how the fraud was committed. The investigation revealed the IRS had known about the widespread problems for a decade but failed to act, and that IRS managers actively encouraged their tax examiners to ignore blatant signs of fraud. WTHR’s investigation quickly gained national attention, attracted more than 9 million online views, sparked intense debate and action by Congress, and triggered immediate reforms by the IRS. Following a series of in-depth follow-ups by WTHR and an Inspector General audit that confirmed all of WTHR’s findings, the IRS announced final rule changes in December designed to reduce the massive fraud and to save taxpayers billions of dollars.
Tags: tax fraud; taxes; taxpayers; Internal Revenue Service
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Conviction
This is a 10-year hidden camera investigation into a likely case of a wrongful conviction in New York City. Ultimately, our broadcast triggered the Manhattan District Attorney’s office to officially reopen and reinvestigate the case as part of its newly created “Conviction Integrity Unit.” Our investigation may also have led to the identity of the real murder suspect. It was reported by Luke Russert.
Tags: conviction; attorney; murder; suspect
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Fast and Loose
Stories told how millionaire real estate developer Rusty Hyneman and partner Michael Bourne benefited from sweetheart bank loans. The stories illustrated wide-open bank practices that helped trigger the housing crisis and the Great Repression.
Tags: Recession; housing crisis; banks; loans; developer
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The Goldman Sachs Trading Code Theft Case
A former Goldman Sachs employee was arrested and charged with taking codes from the company's automated, high-frequency trading system. The find highlighted the possibility that criminals could trigger a systemic meltdown of the market if automated trading were to go rogue.
Tags: Goldman Sachs; codes; trading; market; employee; arrested; July 4th; Matthew Goldstein; computer;
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University Alert System Fails
An armed robbery taking place just feet off of the University of Miami campus failed to trigger a system-wide emergency notification. The text messages and e-mails meant to alert students and faculty of the danger were never sent out. CBS4 uncovers the failure.
Tags: armed robbery; University of Miami; alert; system; fail; students; crime; gunmen; e-mails; text messages; emergency;
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Home Health Hustler
This investigation exposed a woman using multiple identities to set up and operate fraudulent home health care businesses and bill the government. Their investigation found Irene Anderson, also known as Iya Edwards, was in the country illegally and ordered deported nearly twenty years previous, yet she was able to establish numerous home health care agencies and collect millions of dollars in government money. She received Medicare payments for patients who would not typically qualify for home care coverage and for patients who received no home health care at all. This story exposed lapses in federal healthcare and legal systems as well as in the state regulatory system home health care providers. The news team found several ex-employees who had reported fraud and abuse to the state, but nothing had been done. In fact, the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services claimed it conducted an investigation and found nothing, clearing the way for Anderson to continue to fraudulently bill the federal government. The investigation triggered an arrest, a federal raid, criminal charges, repayment of millions of tax dollars and promises of legislative change.
Tags: Texas; home health care; fraud; Medicare fraud; public records
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Unprotected: An Investigation o Sacramento County's Child Protective Services
A dozen years after the 1996 torture-death of one boy triggered major reforms within Sacramento County's Child Protective Services, -- and resulted in a quadrupling of the agency's budget and doubling of its staff -- many of the same problems persist in 2008. The Sacramento Bee found that, despite the massive increase in resources, numerous children continue to be injured or killed who had prior involvement with Sacramento's CPS. Among the problems detailed by The Bee: inadequate supervision and training, sloppy investigations, poor evaluation of children's risk, lack of accountability for serious mistakes. In its follow-up stories, which prompted a grand jury investigation, The Bee used a new state law related to child deaths to push CPS to release case files and found it had illegally altered the records of one boy who died in their care.
Tags: child protective services; county government; torture; child welfare; government agency; government accountablity; child services
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The Financial Collapse
Among the findings in this package are: In February, Morgenson warned that the arcane contracts known as credit-default swaps were so volatile and explosive that they would "set off a chain reaction of losses at financial institutions." In May, she examined the moves by private investment firms to buy up hundreds of New York apartment buildings, betting that they could evict tenants and raise rents. In July, she reported on the enormous increase in consumer debt and the changes in the lending system that encouraged risky loans. In September, she dissected the small London Investment unit that had bedazzled the insurance giant AIG with its profits but soon brought it to its knees and helped trigger a widespread collapse. In November, she profiled the reckless executives who gambled on subprime home mortgages and led Merrill Lynch to its demise. In December, she held the credit-rating agencies to sharp account, in particular Moody's, showing how they had minimized or overlooked the dangers to investors.
Tags: AIG; credit-default swaps; Wall Street; Merill Lynch; Federal Reserve; columnists
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Broken Buses
This series of investigations revealed serious, recurring and widespread safety violations involving hundreds of school buses used to transport nearly 20,000 children to Indianapolis-area schools, and the expanded to show critical safety problems affecting thousands of buses in school districts across Indiana. The investigation exposed problems not only with the school buses, but also identified gaping deficiencies in the Indiana State Police bus inspection program. It triggered immediate and dramatic action, prompted Indiana's largest school districts to call for more stringent oversight and more frequent inspections and provided parents with a hands-on tool to monitor the safety history of their children's school buses.
Tags: buses; public transportation; public safety; safety violations; school buses; investigation